Thursday, February 24, 2000

The Pax Nicholas LP was one of the first African records I ever found. It's also one of the rarest records in my posession as I don't know of anybody else who has ever seen or heard it. Which is a shame because this also is one of the best and most unique sounding Afrobeat records out there.

It was in Philadelphia in the spring of 2005. I had made a visit to Smith's Record store. All the high caliber funk 45s had been gone years ago (many of them into my own collection), but I wanted to say "hi!" to the owner Stanley Smith. When I mentioned that I was thinking about maybe going to Africa for a while, he casually mentioned "I have a stack of African LPs in my office, wanna have a look at them?"

I found a few nice pieces but the Pax Nicholas LP was by far the most interesting and unique record in the bunch. This was a strong indicator for me that there must be loads of other, forgotten records around in West Africa and this record was pretty much the final inspiration to go ahead and embark onto an epic digging trip althrough Western Africa. Since then I found hundreds and thousands of other amazing records but this Pax Nicholas album always remained somehow special to me.

I tried to track down Nicholas with the help of friends in Ghana and Nigeria but I couldn't find a lead. All it took in the end was a simple google-search and I had found him: Ironically, Nicholas Nettey had been living in Berlin since 1978. Nic was very enthusiastic about getting his record re-issued. I approached my old friends at Daptone Records about this and after having listened to some sound clips, they decided to make this their first African release.

When I asked Nic if there were any master tapes left, he told me that years ago, he had had a big fight with his brother during which they both ended up throwing the tapes at each other until they (the tapes) were totally mangled.

Thankfully, my copy of this record was in pristine and unplayed condition when I had found it so we were able to re-master from the original vinyl. This album will be in stores worldwide by September.

Please go to Daptone Records to find out more about this album and about Nicholas Nettey.

34 comments:

Cyril
said...

Hi Frank, i m waiting for this moment since the day you put a Pax Nicholas track in one of your mix (Na Teef know the road of Teef is so an awesome afrobeat track and i m curious to hear more). That's a great present and i can't wait. Thanks & take care.

hi frank,unbelievable good news from you.cool this will be released by Daptone ,hopefully on vinyl. they have a great list of records they put out but i never thought they would drift into this kind of music. great!can't wait to get a copy.how's your docu "take me away fast" doing??take caretom

I already pre-ordered the vinyl of this amazing re-release. I do not want to steal your precious time, but can you please explain concisely, what the words of the title-song "Na teef know de road of teef" mean?? I suppose there is wisdom in it, but i am only guessing....

this is simply a killer afrobeat sound!!cant wait the issue!!i hope there will be many others nice issues like that one during your collaboration with daptone...thank you for discovering all these musical gemms!

hi, I'm just listening to the record - simply amazing and pure afrobeat. I hope other similar records will be reissued soon, I can't stand anymore all this bad afrobeat compilations...I heard WFMU as you were guest - you played a couple of amazing numbers, like Helen Nkume's. I hope you're going to reissue it too.Massimiliano from Munich

Massimiliano, glad you like the record. Don't worry, there will be plenty of more re-issues coming up. We just signed a whole bunch of incredible stuff from various labels in Ghana, then there's the Psychedelic Aliens record and also a Nigerian Disco double LP compilation coming up soon.

This is all so very shit-hot! I'm stoked about the Nigerian Disco double LP you mention...a partnership with Soundway perhaps? As in a volume 2 for their earlier Nigerian Disco-Funk collection? Anyway...keep it up funk soldier!

Great record and thanks for the reissue on vinyl. Just finally got my copy today after downloading a few of the tracks prior. The lp makes a nice soundtrack to John Collins marvelous Kalakuta Notes. Looking forward to the other releases! Academy did a great job with Ofege too, by the way..... I do wish Daptone had stuck in your wonderful blog post as background that you have written here. What a great find!

for making this super & wonderful album available for everybody!! I'm waiting for mine to arrive in the mail right now. It's great to hear that have signed the labels in Ghana also! Please keep it comin'!

Hi Paul, if with dvd you mean the documentary, I actuyally don't know what's happening with that. I'm only the subject... haven't talked to the film maker in a while, last thing I heard was she was out of the country on some freelance job.

Just wanna had another big Thanks for the particular record (bought on CD, waiting to find it on vinyl soon) and for all the amazing music and pictures and stories you share.As I live in Geneva I hope I can make it to come and see/hear you at Le Zoo at the end of march.

It's so cool to deliver us all this mighty vibes,What an enthusiastic life!Thanks again!